Anyone who has slept on a goose-down mattress can tell you it is the most comfortable mattress of all.
But goose-down is expensive, difficult to harvest, and allergenic.
If artificial goose-down could be made, then down mattresses and other down products could be made available to everybody.
Especially important would be artificial down mattresses for hospital beds. Down beds are too expensive and too allergenic for use in hospitals. But they would provide much comfort to suffering, bed-bound patients.
HOW TO CONSTRUCT THE ARTIFICIAL DOWN FEATHER
SUMMARY: Artificial down feathers can be manufactured by using cellular automata to design fractals that mimic down feather construction, and either styrofoam or fractally-configured nickel-phosphorus nanotubes, as a material.
1. ARCHITECTURE IS MORE CRUCIAL TO FEATHERS THAN MATERIAL
For insulation, the architecture of down feathers is more important than its material properties. And so, architecture is the most important element in artificial goose-down.
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/5797a30d2419a61e81b0ae7e6d0e299f
2. WHAT MAKES DOWN SOFT? NO HOOKS
Regular bird feathers are made of little filaments (barbs) that are connected by overlaid “hooks.” There are no hooks in a down feather. There are just millions of tiny filaments that float free.
3. WHY ARE FEATHERS LIGHT? THEY ARE NOT SOLID
The architecture of a feather is what makes it so light. Instead of solid construction, it is made of many tiny filaments. An ounce of down has about 2 million fluffy filaments that interlock and overlap.
http://www.ahappyplanet.com/learn/organic%20fibers/raw_downfeathers.html
3. WHAT IS THE KEY TO DOWN STRUCTURE? DOWN IS FRACTAL.
Down Feathers are constructed fractally–similarly to a snowflake (see illustration). Barbs grow from a central stem. These barbs have smaller barbs growing out of them. These smaller barbs have even smaller barbs growing out of them. Etc. Etc.
“An Insider’s Look at the Feather, Miracle of Bio-Engineering”
(This shows the microscopic structure of vanes and barbs of feathers)
http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/12/15/an-insiders-look-at-the-feather-a-marvel-of-bioengineering/
“A Fractal Approach to Goose Down Structure”
(This investigates how down is constructed fractally.)
4. HOW CAN ONE DESIGN A DOWN FRACTAL? USE “CELLULAR AUTOMATA.”
What are “Cellular automata”?
Essentially, they are simple computer programs that grow fractal patterns (like that of a down feather) based on simple, pre-set rules.
“Cellular Automata”
(This defines cellular automata technically, and gives examples.)
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cellular-automata/
5. WHAT MATERIAL SHOULD BE USED? STYROFOAM OR NANOTUBES?
STYROFOAM is a cheap plastic that could be used to make artificial down, because it is very light.
But a new material has been invented that is much lighter than styrofoam—MICRO-LATTICE NICKEL-PHOSPHORUS NANOTUBES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton
6. HOW TO MAKE NANOTUBES SOFT? FRACTAL STRUCTURE
Micro-lattice structure, however, makes nanotubes hard and strong.
To make nanotubes soft, artificial down should not be made in a micro-lattice configuration, but from FRACTALLY-CONFIGURED NICKEL-PHOSPHORUS NANOTUBES.
Artificial Goosedown would have the softness of goose-down, but would be cheaper and hypo-allergenic.
What about “Artificial Down” products already on the market?
It is true there are currently “artificial down” products on the market. But all they do is mimic the hollow structure of bird feathers. They do not use fractal structure.
The following article seems to be concerned with the possibilities of creating artificial down
“The structural mechanical properties of down feathers and bio-mimicking natural insulation materials”
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1006631328233?LI=true
Ted Silar 